The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) will remain with the Left for another year, with the All India Students’ Association winning all four posts in the union elections, the results for which were declared here on Sunday. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, until now a non-entity in the Left-dominated university, came a surprise second in two positions along with the Left Progressive Front.
“This is the right answer to the communal, fascist forces that seem to think they are undefeatable,” said Ashutosh Kumar, the new JNUSU president, a PhD scholar. He polled 1,386 votes and won by a margin of 377 votes from his rival, the Left Progressive Front candidate Rahila Perween who polled 1,009 votes. Third up, was the ABVP’s Sourabh Kumar who polled 944 votes.
The new vice-president Anant Prakash Narayan, another Ph.D scholar polled 1,366 votes, 610 more than his nearest rival the ABVP’s Md.Jahidul Dewan who polled 756 votes. “It is not just ideology but the sheer amount of hard work that we have consistently put in throughout the year has worked in our favour. The students have seen us trying to get things done and that is the reason why we have been voted back,” said Anant.
The General Secretary's post was clinched by Chintu Kumari who polled 1,605 votes and won by a margin of 814 votes. Her nearest rival was the ABVP's Ashish Kumar who polled 791 votes.
Joint Secretary Shafqat Hussain Butt polled 1209 votes and won by a margin of 240 votes from his nearest rival the Left Progressive Front candidate Mulayam Singh who polled 969 votes. “The work of the previous union has been appreciated and that is why the students have reposed their faith in us,” said Shafqat.
In addition to the central panel, there are councillors who are elected for every school and in this too, the AISA won seven councillor seats. The ABVP got 12 seats, mostly from the Sciences while the Students' Federation of India managed to get six seats. The DSF managed four .
The AISA's win cast aside speculations that they were headed for a spectacular defeat, with almost every student association on campus making snide references to the former JNUSU president and joint secretary having sexual harassment enquiries against them, a few months before elections were to begin.
This election season was also fraught with uncertainties with the sudden rise of the ABVP, which had trouble getting even half this vote share last year. The rise of the Right, made two Left organisation on campus, the Democratic Students' Federation and the All India Students' Federation come together to form a “United Left.”
